earth of the plain. Runoff water from the highlands was contained and
channelled by this layer, and formed a long narrow underground
reservoir stretching out like a finger from the base of the Sardi
Gorge, sixty miles into the dry hot savannah.
Closer to the mountains, the water ran deep, hundreds of feet below the
earth's surface, but farther out, the slope of the land combined with
the raised lip of the schist layer forced the water up to within
forty-five feet of the surface.
Thousands of years ago the area had been the grazing grounds of large
concentrations of wild elephant. These indefatigable borers for water
had detected the presence of this subterranean lake. With tusk and
hoof they had dug down and reached the surface of the water.
Hunters had long since exterminated the elephant herds, but their wells
had been kept open by other animals, wild ass, oryx, camel, and, of
course, by man who had annihilated the elephant.
Now the wells, a dozen or more in an area of two or three square miles,
were deep excavations into the bloodred earth. The sides of the wells
were tiered by narrow worn paths that wound down so steeply that
sunlight seldom penetrated to the level of the water.
The water itself was highly mineralized, so that it had a milky green
appearance and a rank metallic taste, but nevertheless it had supported
vast quantities of life over the centuries. And the vegetation in the
area, with its developed root systems, drew sustenance from the deep
water and grew more densely and greenly than anywhere else on the dry
bleak savannah.
Beyond the wells, in the direction of the mountains, was an area of
confused broken ground, steep but shallow wadis and square hillocks so
low as to be virtually only mounds of dense red laterite. Over the
ages, the shepherds and hunters who frequented the wells had burrowed
into the sides of ravine and hillock, so that they were now honeycombed
with caves and tunnels.
It was as though nature had declared a peace upon the wells. Here man
and animal came together in wary truce that was seldom violated.
Amongst the grey-green thorn trees and dense scrub goat and camel
grazed in company with gazelle and gerenuk, oryx and greater kudu.
n In the hush of noo', the column of four armoured cars came in from
the east, and the hum of their engines carried at distance to the
multitude that awaited their arrival.
Jake led, as usual, followed by Vicky, then came Gregoritis with
Sara riding in the turret of his car and the white stallion trailing
them on a long lead rein. In the rear rode Gareth. Suddenly Sara
shrieked at such a high pitch that her voice carried over the engine
noise and she pointed ahead to the low valley filled with green scrub
and taller denser trees. Jake halted the column and climbed up into
the turret.
Through his binoculars he studied the open forest, and then.
started as he discerned a horde of moving figures coming headlong on
wings of fine pale dust.
"My God," he muttered aloud. "there must be hundreds of them," and he
felt a stab of uneasiness. They looked anything but friendly.
At that moment, he was distracted by the sound of galloping hooves
close by, and Sara came dashing past him.
She was mounted bareback on the white stallion, her robes streaming and
fluttering in the sun-bright wind. She was shouting with almost
hysterical excitement as she galloped to meet the oncoming riders and
her behaviour reassured Jake a little. He signalled the column forward
once again.
The first ranks came swiftly in dust clouds, on running camels and
galloping shaggy horses. Fierce, dark-faced men in billowing robes of
dirty white, and a motley of other colours. Urging forward their
mounts with wild cries, brandishing the small round bronze and iron
studded and bossed war shields, they came racing towards the column.
As they approached, they split into two wings and tore headlong past
the startled drivers in a solid wall of moving men and animals.
Most of the men were bearded, and here and there some warrior wore
proudly a great fluffy headdress of lion mane proclaiming his valour to
the world. The manes rippled and waved on the wind as the riders drove
by, urging on their mounts with the high "Looloo" ululations so
characteristic of the Ethiopians.
The weapons they carried amazed Gareth, who as a professional dealer
recognized twenty different types and makes, each one of them a
collector's piece from the long muzzle-loading Tower muskets with the
fancy hammers over percuss ion caps, through a range of Martini Henry
carbines, which fired a heavy lead bullet in a cloud of black powder
smoke, to a wide selection of Mousers; and Schneiders, Lee-Metfords,
and obsolete models from half the arms-manufacturers of the world.
As the riders swept by, they fired these weapons into the air,
long spurts of black powder against the evening sky, and the crackle of
musketry blended with the fierce ululations of welcome.
After the first wave of riders came another of those on mules and
donkeys moving more slowly but making as much noise and immediately
